“Establish … a House of God”
Is there any aspect of Mormonism more simultaneously distinctive to outsiders, emphasized to insiders, yet misunderstood by pretty much everyone as the temple? These majestic edifices represent the pinnacle of Mormon worship and represent great sacrifice. Service at the temple involves high ritual and embodied worship to a degree unknown elsewhere in the faith. Yet far too often, members don’t feel empowered and illuminated in this House of God. The goal of this episode is to help listeners improve their relationship with the temple.
In this episode we will discuss:
- The role of the temple in the contemporary Church
- What it means to us
- How we talk about it
- Temples in church history
- Temples in the ancient world
- Temples in the Bible
- Thoughts on how we can make our relationship with the temple more meaningful and valuable
Recurring Donation:
One Time Donation:
Student Reading: Doctrine and Covenants 95; 109; 110; Our Heritage, pages 33–36; D&C 88:119; D&C 97:15–16; D&C 101:22; D&C 124:39
Additional Teacher Reading: 2 Nephi 5:16; Mosiah 1:10; 2:1; 3 Nephi 11:1; Malachi 4:5–6; D&C 97:15–17 Acts 2:1–4 Abraham 2:9–11; D&C 138:53–56
Look forward to coverage of points such as temple clothing, Adam and Eve, and the symbolism of the Plan of Salvation in the temple, as well as a discussion of how the experience may differ for men and women.
Please post your comments and questions here, in the facebook group, or email them to me at MormonSundaySchool at gmail.com
We are fortunate to have some powerhouse contributors to the discussion: Devery, Jessica, George, Libby, and Bonnie.
You can access my Lesson Notes here (or PDF)
You can access my Reading Notes here
Suggested Resources
- Devery Anderson’s history of temple worship (and he will be on the podcast!)
- Temple Ordinances entry in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism
- Matthew Brown, Symbols in Stone on Temple symbolism
- S. Michael Wilcox’s House of Glory
- Alonzo L. Gaskill Sacred Symbols: Finding Meaning in Rites, Rituals, and Ordinances
- Richard Bennett on the commencement of endowments and sealings for the dead in BYU Studies
- An interview on the relationship between Mormonism and Masonry
- A longer, multi-part discussion on the connections between Mormonism and Masonry
Many thanks to Devin Roth for the beautiful bumper music. Check out his arrangement of hymns and other work at DevinRothMusic!
Thanks to James Estrada of Oak Street Audio for his amazingly quick post production. If he gets any faster, he will be editing before I record!
Engaging Gospel Doctrine 
Leave a Reply